A L M A C I A S

SOMETIMES IT IS COMPASSION THAT MOVES US

In the Scriptures, we find that for one to truly be a good Christian, there are certain qualities of character which one must possess. A Christian is one who has love for mankind and love for the brethren, one who is merciful toward others, even when he has suffered wrong at their hands, one who is patient even toward his enemies. And the list goes on and on. However, there is one quality which we sometimes tend to overlook, and which is of tremendous importance in that when one has this quality of character, it will move him to do things that otherwise he would not do. This is the quality of compassion. In Luke 10:25-37, the Lord had a confrontation with an interpreter of the Law who came to Jesus with the intent of testing the Lord. This lawyer asked the Lord what one needed to do to inherit eternal life, a very important question, had it been asked with an honest heart. The lawyer had no interest in really knowing the answer to his question; he was only interested in putting the Lord to the test.

The Lord answered this man with another question, as He often did when he knew that he was just being tested. The Lord asked, "What is written in the Law? how readest thou?" This lawyer answered his own question when he replied, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." The Lord then told the lawyer that he had answered correctly, ³this do, and thou shalt live.² But then the man, trying to justify himself, asked the Lord, "And who is my neighbor?" This is when the Lord related the parable of the good Samaritan. It was through this parable that the Lord not only showed this man, as well as us today, who is really our neighbor and the importance of loving our neighbor as ourselves. However, the Lord also showed the difference in attitude of a person who has the quality of compassion and the one who lacks such this important character trait.

In this parable, a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho fell into the hands of certain thieves and was robbed of everything he had, plus he was wounded and left for dead. After this, a priest was also coming down the same path and saw this man who was wounded and in need of assistance from anyone who could help. The priest, having no compassion for his neighbor, did nothing to help this man. Later a Levite also noticed the wounded man, and also having no compassion toward him, did nothing to help. However, a Samaritan passing that way, did show compassion, and it was he who did something to help. Why was there a difference in how these three men reacted to the same situation? The only difference I can see, as I read this parable, is that compassion made all the difference. Are we people of compassion toward our fellow man?